Henet g



(No Model.)

H. G. VOIGHT.

LATCH.

No. 602,886. Patented Apr. 26, 1898.

* UNITED STATES- PATENT rrron@ HENRY Gr. VOIGHT, OF NEW BRITAIN,CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE RUSSELL do ERWIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OFSAME PLAGE.

LATCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 602,886, dated .April26, 1898. Application filed December 18, 1897. Serial No. 662,872. (Nomodel.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. VOIGHT, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State ofConnecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLatches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in latches; and the main object ofmy improvement is to make a one-armed latch-hub act upon the latch-leverwith substantially the same ease when the knob-spindle is turned ineither direction.

' In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of mylatch with the cappla-te removed, the parts of the lock for which thecase was designed being omitted. Fig. 2 is a sectional view, partly inelevation, of my latch on the line a :t of Fig. l; and Fig. 3 is a frontview of parts of my latch with the arm of the hub broken oli and theaxle of its rollerpin in section.

A designates the latch-case, and B its capplate. The case may be of anysuitable construction. As shown, it is made as the case of a combinedlatch and lock; but the lock portion thereof is not essential to myinvention. The case is provided with a short latchlever 4, pivoted at 5and provided with a light spring 6 to hold said lever in its normalposition with its longer arm against the stop 7, as shown. Said longerarm near its end is provided with a pin or pivot 8, upon which the innerend of the latch-bolt 9 is pivoted, while the outer beveled end of saidlatch-bolt extends through the face-plate l0 in the ordinary manner.

By the side of the shorter latch-lever 4 there is another and longerlatch-lever 1l, acting in connection with the lever4 and pivoted to thecase at l2. It is also provided with a spring 13 and a short and longarm, the longer arm hc ving a V-shaped recess on the edge that faces thelatch-bolt hub 14, while its shorter arm bears upon the shorter arm ofthe shorter latch-lever 4. The hub 14 is mounted to turn in suitablebearings in the case and is provided with only one wing or arm l5. Thisarm carries a rounded projection 16,

5o Figs. 2 and 3, preferably in the form of a roller pivoted on the pin17, which projection 16 bears against the longerarm of the longerlatch-lever at its V-shaped recess. The side 18 of this V-shaped recessnearest the outer end of the lever ll stands at a more abrupt angle tothe path of the projection 16 than does the other side 19 of saidV-shaped recess, whereby with a certain amount of resistance against themovement of the lever ll said lever will be moved with substantially thesame ease when the latch-hub is turned to force it against either side1S or 19 of the V-shaped recess. It should be noted that when the wingof the latch-bolt hub acts upon that side 18 which has the longerleverage the angle is such (everything else being equal) that itfurnishes the greatest resistance to the movement of the latch-hub, andwhen it acts on the side 19, which has the shorter leverage, the angleis such (everything else being equal) that it furnishes the leastresistance to lthe movement of the latch-hub. By the combination of thedifferent angles and longer and shorter leverages the power necessary tomove the latch-bolt through the hub is or may be equalized, so that theknob can be turned either way with substantially the same ease.

It, will be seen that turning the latch-hub in either direction willmove the long arm of the longer latch-lever away from the hub andagainst the force of its spring, while the short arm of said lever Ilacts against the short arm of the lever 4 to draw the latch-bolt 9inwardly. Upon releasing the hub the springs 6 and 13 return the partsto their normal position. IVhen the latch-bolt is forcedinwardly bypressure on its outer end, as when closing the door, the lever 4 aloneis moved and its spring alone returns the said lever and latchbolt toltheir normal position, whereby a light spring can be employed for thelever 4, and the spring 13 and lever 11 maintain their hold on the wingof the Llatch-bolt hub when the latch-bolt is being thus moved.

It is apparent that in carrying out my invention some changes from theconstruction herein shown and described may be made, and I wouldtherefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the exactform shown, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes andalterations as fairly fall Within provided vvith a Wing and operatingprojecthe spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of the latch-bolt with 5 theshorter lever 4: to which said latch-bolt is pivoted, a spring for saidlever, the longer lever 11 acting on the lever 4 and having a V-shapedrecess, a spring for said lever, and the latch-hub having a projectionfor engag- Io ing the V-shaped portion of the said lever 11,

substantially as described.

2. In a latch, the combination of the hub tion, with the spring-lever 11for moving the latch-bolt through the said hub, said lever having aV-shaped recess with its two sides inclined at dierent angles for beingengaged by the said operating projection, substantially as described.

HENRY G. VOIGHT.

Witnesses:

T. S. BISHO?, M. S. WIARD.

